Sacramento Kings Fill Up Training Camp Roster

The Sacramento Kings will have shooting guards Luther Head, J.R. Giddens and Joe Crawford on their training camp roster. All three players have NBA experience.

According to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee, Kings President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie says that he plans on having 20 players at the most in training camp, which means that six additional players, at the most, will fight for the team’s last roster spot.

So far, 17 slots have been filled, and the team starts camp on Sept. 28, which I’ll be attending.

Out of the three camp invites so far, Head has the most NBA experience. A 6-foot-3-inch and 185-pound guard, Head has spent three-and-a-half seasons with the Houston Rockets, 10 games with the Miami Heat and last season with the Indiana Pacers.

Head has career averages of 8.5 points on 42.3 percent shooting, 2.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.8 steals in 23.1 minutes per game. His second season was his best, averaging 10.9 points on 43.7 percent shooting, 3.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists and a steal in 27.6 minutes per game. He also shot 44.1 percent from behind the three-point line.

He shot 38.2 percent from the 15-23 foot range last season and his $992,000 contract becomes guaranteed if he’s on the roster by Dec. 1, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

His report also suggests that Head didn’t fail his physical for the New Orleans Hornets. Head agreed to a one-year deal with general manager Jeff Bower, but Bower was fired after the agreement.

According to Wojnarowski’s sources, team president Hugh Weber didn’t want the next GM to have Head’s contract and that Head’s ankle, which was the given reason why Head failed his physical, is fine.

Giddens, a 6-foot-6-inch, 215-pound guard, played only 27 games in one-and-a-half seasons with the Boston Celtics. He was traded to the New York Knicks last season and after recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, he averaged 4.1 points on 48.7 percent shooting and 2.6 rebounds in 12.7 minutes per game in 11 appearances.

Although he missed almost all of his shots outside of the paint, Giddens made 22 out of 30 shots (73.3 percent) in the paint.

Crawford, a 6-foot-5 inch, 210-pound guard, only played two NBA games with the New York Knicks in the 2008-09 season. He spent his time in the NBA Developmental League with the Los Angeles D-Fenders, averaging 17.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 0.9 steals in 36.3 minutes per game.

The season before, he averaged 20.8 points on 47.4 percent shooting, 4.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and one steal in 38.1 minutes per game. He played in the 2010 NBDL All-Star Game as a replacement.

Head is the favorite going into camp because he bring the most to the table. The Kings were looking to bring in shooters in the offseason and signed veteran swingman Antoine Wright. A career 42.2 percent shooter from the field, Head could round out the guard rotation for the Kings.

It should also be noted that Sloan could be fighting for a roster spot as well. The undrafted rookie guard didn’t perform well in the Las Vegas Summer League and his contract has only $10,000 guaranteed. Darnell Jackson’s contract is fully non-guaranteed.

So it won’t be a surprise to see a couple of point guards or big men come in to fight for roster spots that can potentially be open. The Kings want to focus on Whiteside as a power forward, the position he started at in the summer league

Training camp doesn’t start for 15 days and preseason starts a week later, so there will be more invites on the way. Right now, Head is the favorite to make the team.